


Stand By Me

by Cassandra_Elise



Category: Elementary (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Platonic Soulmates, Platonic and otherwise, Post-Season/Series 06, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-16 06:12:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16080125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassandra_Elise/pseuds/Cassandra_Elise
Summary: "'I can’t come back, Watson,' he speaks sorrowfully......She licks her lips as she tries to determine how to explain herself. 'I can’t go back either. You changed everything when you made that declaration.'”As she tries to get her life back together after the events of 6.21, Joan Watson is reminded daily of Sherlock's final words to her. Spoilers abound for the season finale. I am a Joanlock shipper, but you can totally read this story platonically as well.





	Stand By Me

“We’re much better than that. We’re two people who love each other. We always have been.” Sherlock’s words play over and over in her head, a steady mantra that matches the cadence of her heart. There are days when the only certainty she can find is in his sparse sentences. These are words that had long lay dormant during their relationship, only to bubble to the surface in an eruption of honesty and conviction the moment Sherlock felt he was losing her completely: “We’re much better than that. We’re two people _who love each other_.”

The words stay at the forefront of her mind as Joan watches her life in New York slowly unravel. First come the awkward conversations from the adoption agencies. “We’re sorry, Ms. Watson, but you’re a woman who’s been accused of murder, whose business partner actually _did_ murder someone--well, you can understand why we are reluctant to hand over a child to you…”

Joan normally would bury herself in her work, ignoring the pain and frustration she truly feels. Helping someone less fortunate than herself is a deflection technique she has mastered throughout the years. But she no longer has the NYPD to turn to for distraction, and private clients, at least anyone she cares to take on, aren’t coming as rapidly anymore. Word has circulated throughout the private detective community of Sherlock’s purported killing, and now the majority of the clients she receives are people who are actually guilty of some crime and want her to help cover up for them. After two months of unsatisfactory cases, Joan decides to temporarily retire from detective work until the rumours of Sherlock stop circulating. If they ever will. Perhaps the rumours, like Sherlock’s declaration of love, will leave an indelible mark, never to be erased.

“We’re two people who _love. each. other._ ”

With no job, no prospect of a child, and no partner on this side of the Atlantic to worry about, Joan moves out of the Brownstone and into her parents’ place to help look after her mother. There are days that are wonderful, filled with reciprocated love and affection, and there are days where her mother doesn’t recognize her own daughter and husband and threatens to have them arrested for intruding in her home. Joan clings to the memory of who her mother used to be, tries not to let the hateful words spoken in an episode of dementia affect her. But it’s difficult. She’s already lost so much. Now she’s losing her mother, too.

Mary Watson laments as much to Joan’s step-father during one of her lucid moments. “Why do you put up with me? I’m so horrible to you.”

“Because I love you,” Henry Watson replies. “And people who love each other stand by each other.”

Her stepfather’s words remind Joan again of Sherlock’s own pronouncement: “We’re two people who love each other. **We always have been**.” But this time, instead of providing comfort, the words rub at her until she feels raw.

It takes her a while to deduce what has rankled her. When she finally does figure it out, it’s at two in the morning after she awakens abruptly from an uneasy sleep. The answer to her problem has come unbidden in a dream. Her hands fumble around in the dark until they find her cell phone on her bedside table. She quickly punches in Sherlock’s number from her speed dial and waits for him to answer.

“Good morning, Watson. Very early morning, if my mathematics are correct. What has prevented you from getting your beauty sleep? Another rough day with your mother? More bad news about the NYPD? Another--”

“Just shut up and listen,” Joan barrels over him. The silence that greets her on the other end of the line proves that Sherlock is actually obeying for once. “You’re a liar.” Her barb has its desired effect. She hears a sharp intake of breath at her accusation. “You said that you loved me...yet you left me.”

“I had...no...choice.” Each word is a gasp of pain.

She knows it’s true, she understands how much this separation is killing him, she worries about his sobriety with no one he cares about there to support him. But she’s also angry. Angry that he never thought to include her in his plan before he recklessly threw away his life in New York. Angry that in the months they have been apart, she can only call him and see him over an inadequate Skype connection. And anger is the emotion that is currently winning out over logic and reason. “But you abandoned me! That’s not what people who love each other do. People who love each other stand by each other.” She repeats her stepfather’s words to Holmes, hoping he’ll understand.

“I can’t come back, Watson,” he speaks sorrowfully.

Joan lets out a sigh of frustration that he doesn’t _get_ it. “I know you can’t.” She licks her lips as she tries to determine how to explain herself. “I can’t go back either. You changed everything when you made that declaration.”

“Watson…”

She ignores him. “And I wouldn’t want to go back, even if I could. We’ve established that we’re more than partners. We’re people who love each other--”

“Watson…”

“--And people who love each other **stand by each other** ,” she reiterates again, louder this time.

There’s a pregnant pause. She can just visualise the wheels spinning in Sherlock’s beautiful mind. “Joan?” he whispers. “Do you want to live in London with me?”

“Yes, Sherlock. I want to be with you. You’re my world. You have been ever since I fell into your orbit. I just never realised how much you meant to me until you left.”

Sherlock’s breaths come quick and low over the telephone. She imagines him bouncing up and down on his heels with excitement. “I have not let out the flat next to mine. Do you want to move in next door to me?”

She is smiling genuinely for the first time in many weeks. “That would be great.”

“When can I expect your arrival?”

“I have a few things I need to do in New York first. Make sure my stepfather has everything under control with my mother, get my finances in order…”

“Take your time, Watson. I shall be waiting patiently here for you.”

“You’re a liar,” she says again, but this time it’s in jest. “You’ve never done anything patiently in your life.”

He chuckles softly. “For you, dear Watson, I would make an effort. We are, after all, best friends.”

Joan leans her head back against her pillow, letting his words envelop her like a comfy sweater. “We’re much better than that,” she tells him. “We’re two people who love each other. We always have been.”

**Author's Note:**

> Typically on Elementary, it's Sherlock who is the one to make the first move in Watson's and his relationship. I thought it was time the tables were turned, and that Joan got a chance to speak her mind.


End file.
